But Arizona couldn't get it done Saturday, falling 79-70 to the Huskies in front of a packed house at Alaska Airlines Arena, a place the Wildcats hasn't conquered in five tries.

For the Wildcats, the loss stung. It snapped a five-game winning streak, dropping them to 19-9 and 10-5 in the unpredictable Pac-12, two games behind Washington and a game and a half behind California. It also might have damaged their NCAA Tournament hopes with just three regular-season games to play.

"It's hard to really deal with that," Arizona coach Sean Miller said of his team's NCAA fate, "but I know our solution has to be win. ... A win today would've been thrilling for our team, but a loss can't be devastation."

Showcasing two of the top players in the conference, Washington improved to 19-8 and 12-3 in the Pac-12, keeping alive its hope for a regular-season title, which almost assuredly would produce an NCAA at-large selection. Terrence Ross led the Huskies with 25 points and five steals, while Tony Wroten added 22 points and nine rebounds. Whenever Washington needed an answer, it seemed they found one.

Ross was particularly effective, shooting 11 of 19 from the field - he was 10 of 11 from 2-point range - with 15 points coming in the first half.

"When Terrence is playing like that it just makes our team that much harder to defend," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said.

Forget the regional matchups. Over the past two years, this has turned into the Pac-12's best rivalry. Entering Saturday, the last three games had been decided by five points. Last year in Tucson, Derrick Williams saved the game with a blocked shot at the buzzer. Three weeks later in Los Angeles, Isaiah Thomas drilled a last-second jumper to beat the Wildcats in the Pac-12 Tournament.

On Jan. 28 in Tucson, Wroten blocked a shot at the buzzer that preserved Washington's 69-67 win. For most of Saturday's contest, which was Washington's Senior Day, both teams followed a similar script, one push answered by another. It lasted all the way up until seven minutes remained in the game, when Miller thought his team, relying mostly on just seven players because of injuries, ran out of gas.

"In the end, we just gave up one too many runs," Arizona guard Kyle Fogg said.

Washington, the Pac-12's top offensive-rebounding team, turned 20 offensive rebounds into 20 second-chance points. As a result, the Wildcats couldn't put together a final, second-half surge. Washington grabbed two offensive rebounds during a decisive 6-1 spurt that produced a 73-62 advantage with 3:36 to go.

"We had a lot of breakdowns and sometimes it's difficult to give credit to the other team, but it's the right thing in this case," Miller said. "They were hungry. They play hard. They're great at offensive rebounding and they had that in place tonight. That was clearly the difference in the game."

From here, Arizona has work to do, but its schedule is favorable. While both Washington and California finish the regular-season with three road games, the Wildcats have USC and UCLA at home, followed by a road game at rival Arizona State. Entering Saturday, the Wildcats had an RPI ranking of 58 with six wins over Top 100 teams.

"We need every game," said guard Nick Johnson, who led the Wildcats with 20 points. "But this is over and done with so we just got to look ahead."

Key player

Terrence Ross was outstanding, but Tony Wroten might have done more damage. The freshman guard had 22 points and nine rebounds, five coming on offense. Arizona coach Sean Miller said Wroten rebounds his own miss about as well as any player he's seen.

Key moment

Arizona hung around for most of the contest, but a 6-1 Washington spurt pushed the margin into double digits late in the second half and Arizona couldn't get enough stops to answer.